Mass Effect's, Supercrip, and The Normate Body - Amanda Joyal

30/05/2020 Reconstruction 12.
2 (2012): Playing for Keeps: Games and Cultural Resistance
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Mass Effect's, Supercrip, and the
Normate Body / Amanda Joyal
Abstract: This essay examines Joker through the lens
of the “supercrip,” a term disability theorists use
to discuss disabled characters who because of, or in
spite of, their disability, are perceived as
possessing extraordinary talent. In the case of Mass
Effect, the player and Commander Shepard are seen as
normates, defined in opposition to Joker and the
supercrip. The supercrip character allows the able-
bodied to view disability as something other than
physical suffering. This essay argues that Joker is a
character designed for the able-bodied player; he
compensates for his disability through humor and his
unmatched ability to fly the Normandy. The Normandy
acts as Joker’s prosthesis. As a supercrip character,
his prosthesis is a sign of empowerment and super-
ability, rather than a reminder of his disability.
However, the beings that inhabit the Mass Effect
universe are all deeply reliant upon new technology,
redefining the normate body as one that includes
prosthesis, even while it defines Joker as Other. In
Mass Effect 2, Joker’s disability is all but cured.
This paper examines how a cure for his disability
allows Joker to take on the more traditional role of
the hero figure that would not be possible for a
disabled character.
Keywords: Disability, video games, Mass Effect
<1> In the science fiction future, it seems almost

impossible to imagine that we have not eradicated all
of the diseases and health problems that afflict the
world today. Yet, in the universe presented in
Bioware’s Mass Effect series, the world is far from
perfect. Disease is used in biological warfare but
even non-bioengineered diseases have no cure. Mass
Effect is a third person action/role playing game
that takes place in 2183, in a future where humans
have branched out in the universe and have discovered
several advanced alien life forms. The player’s
avatar is Commander Shepard, a Systems Alliance
officer in charge of the SSV (Systems Alliance Space
Vehicle) Normandy. The games follow Shepard’s
discovery of and battles with the Reapers, an ancient
alien race of sentient machines intent on wiping out
all organic life in the galaxy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20151103163706/http://reconstruction.eserver.org/Issues/122/Joyal.shtml 1/16
30/05/2020 Reconstruction 12.2 (2012): Playing for Keeps: Games and Cultural Resistance
<2> The focus of this paper is on the first and
second Mass Effect games and Jeff “Joker” Moreau, the
pilot of the Normandy and self-proclaimed “best damn
helmsman in the Alliance fleet.” Joker is also a
disabled figure; Vrolik’s syndrome, or brittle bone
disease, has made walking very difficult for Joker.
As a disabled character, Joker must manage his
relationship with Shepard and the player in a way
that makes them comfortable with his disability. His
interactions with Commander Shepard are between
someone with a disability and the “normate body,” a
term Rosemarie Garland Thomson coins in her book,
Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in
American Culture and Literature. The normate body is
the body that exists in contrast to the disabled body
—they define each other through their differences.
The normate body is a theoretical ideal that does not
exist but still operates as a useful term that
describes those that are considered “normal.” Unlike
Joker, Shepard and the player can be defined as
normates. Because of his abilities as a pilot and his
disability caused by Vrolik’s syndrome, Joker falls
into the category of the “supercrip,” a term common
in disability theory. Supercrip refers to a person
with a disability who is seen as possessing amazing
and inspiring ability that allows them to “overcome”
their disability. Supercrips allow people without
disabilities to see disabled people as locations of
super ability. People with disabilities become
inspirational figures and this allows people without
disabilities to view them without guilt or
discomfort. As a supercrip figure, Joker is a
disabled character designed for an able-bodied
player; his character encourages a representation of
disability that treats and defines both Shepard and
the player as normates. By including the character of
Joker, Mass Effect becomes a game about the player
defining themselves as normal, in contrast to the
disabled body. The relationship between the normate
and the supercrip come together to form a
representation of disability that privileges ability
over disability even as the technology of the game
unsettles the stereotype of disability.
Positions of Authority: Shepard and the Player as

Normate
<3> The relationship between Shepard and Joker mimics

the lived experience of people with disabilities in
several ways [1]. In Extraordinary Bodies, Rosemarie
Garland Thomson refers to what she calls the “normate
subject position.” According to Thomson, the normate
“is the constructed identity of those who, by way of
the bodily configurations and cultural capital they
assume, can step into a position of authority and
wield the power it grants them” (8). As commander of
the Normandy and his position as the games
hero/protagonist, Shepard is a character whose
identity allows him to step into the position of
authority. Shepard is the normate body. As the
normate, Shepard wields power over Joker which Joker
must then be wary of. By extension, the player also
inhabits the position of the normate as it is
Shepard’s body they are playing as within the game.
Since Shepard can be fully customized by the player,
it makes sense that Shepard already inhabits the
player’s ideal “bodily configurations” and as a
fictional being, Shepard probably comes fairly close
to being the normate body that cannot be achieved in
reality.
<4> When the player first has the opportunity to quiz

Joker on aspects of his life and background, the
scene plays out in a way that gives Shepard the
power. The camera uses a low angle shot. It appears
that the camera inhabits Joker’s gaze in which it
looks up at Commander Shepard from Joker’s position
in his chair. This camera angle makes Shepard look
bigger and taller. This added height makes Shepard
into a more heroic, authoritative figure. Since Joker
stays sitting in his chair on the bridge for the
entirety of the first game, the height difference is
even more pronounced. The difference between the
normate and the disabled body is very physical in
this scenario. Height is equated to power in this
scene—Joker has little and Shepard has a lot. In
addition, Joker lacks the ability to stand up to make
their heights more even, so he is unable to balance
power.
<5> Their dialogue in this scene reflects this

difference in height and power. In their
conversation, Shepard is the one who drives the
conversation. Shepard asks all of the questions and
Joker can only answer. The scenario acts as a kind of
interrogation scene in which Joker must answer
questions about his disability. This interaction
leads to an important “coming out” moment that
defines Joker’s character. When Shepard talks to
Joker at the beginning of the game, Joker states
emphatically that he has earned his achievements and
never received special treatment because of his
disease. He assumes that Shepard has been in his
files and already knows that he has brittle bone
disease. After Shepard asks him what he is talking
about, Joker says, “You mean you didn’t know? Oh
crap. I have Vrolik’s syndrome” (Mass Effect). Now
that the player knows about Joker’s disability they
can proceed to ask him questions about it. In
Disability Theory, Tobin Siebers compares coming out
as disabled to coming out of the closet as a
homosexual. According to Siebers, “the closet is an
oppressive structure because it controls the flow of
information beyond individual desire for disclosure
or secrecy and because it is able to convert either
disclosure or secrecy into the opposite” (99). Joker
does not know whether he is in the closet or out of
it. His disability is not visible as long as he is
sitting down (which he usually is) and he would
prefer to keep it secret. Yet, the information is in
his file for anyone who would care to check. Joker is
caught somewhere between secrecy and disclosure and
this is an oppressive force. Joker and Shepard act
out in the game world what happens in the player’s
world—the able-bodied ask a disabled person what is
wrong with them and the disabled person tells them.
<6> Within the context of the game, the relationship

between Joker and Shepard is a newly developed
relationship between a normate and a person with a
disability. Thomson asserts that in order “to be
granted fully human status by normates, disabled
people must learn to manage relationships from the
beginning” (13). Joker seems determined to manage the
player’s perception of him from the start. In that
first conversation, it is why he very combatively
says, “I am the best damn helmsman in the alliance
fleet…All those commendations in my file? I earned
every single one. Those weren’t given to me as
charity for my disease” (Mass Effect). Since Joker
also mentions that he told all of this to the
previous Normandy commander, it is obvious that Joker
is used to managing his relationship with able-bodied
individuals. Because he has a disability he must
“striv[e] to create [a] valued representation of
[him]self in [his] relations with the nondisabled
majority” (Thomson 13). By making sure the commander
of the Normandy knows that he is the best pilot
around, he ensures that his contribution will be
respected despite his disability. He has clearly
learned that he has to do this every time command of
the Normandy changes. If certain dialogue options are
selected, Shepard will ask Joker is he is able to fly
the ship even with his disability and Joker
sarcastically responds that he does not fly the
Normandy with his feet. Since Shepard has been on the
ship for quite some time and presumably knows that
Joker has been flying just fine the whole time, this
line of questioning seems to confirm Joker’s fears.
He seems to recognize that “to the non-disabled,
people with disabilities…symbolize, among other
things, imperfection, failure to control the body,
and everyone’s vulnerability to weakness, pain, and
death” (Wendell 60). These feelings towards people
with disabilities are what cause them to be the
“Other” that defines the normate body. Joker
understands this instinct and reacts defensively
against it. He must confidently establish his
abilities in order to convince the new commander that
he is able despite being disabled. His exuberant
confidence in his abilities waylays misgivings about
his disability. He knows he is an excellent pilot and
his file confirms it. By doing so, he finds himself
promoting an image of disability that the able-bodied
prefer. Joker “proves capable of overcoming a
physical or mental limitation through extraordinary
feats…[that] remain among our most glorified disabled
role models, lavishly lauded in the press and on
television” (Shapiro 16). He may have a disability,
but he has made himself into the best pilot in the
fleet through determination, the same determination
that makes him want to be recognized for his earned
achievements. The able-bodied player can then see an
inspirational figure of disability rather than a
disabled figure deserving of pity at the expense of
the player’s comfort.
<7> Joker must compensate for his disability in his

relationship with the normate. Thomson asserts that
“disabled people must use charm, intimidation, ardor,
deference, humor, or entertainment to relieve non-
disabled people of their discomfort” (Thomson 13).
Joker most often uses humor and entertainment to
manage his relationships. Although he supposedly gets
his nickname because he never smiled in flight
school, he is definitely a funny character [2]. Joker
is voiced by Seth Green, an actor known for his role
in the Austin Powers movies and his role in comedic
cartoons such as Family Guy and Robot Chicken. He is
meant to funny. He especially treats his disability
in a rather joking manner. When questioned about his
disability, he states, “Put the Normandy in my hands
and I’ll make her dance for you. Just don’t ask me to
get up and dance, unless, you know, you like the
sound of snapping shin bones” (Mass Effect). He also
says that he functions fine despite his disability
unless he wants to “get up to take a piss.” These are
two actions humorously conveyed to the reader that
are affected by Joker’s disability. However, the
player never sees Joker performing any of these
actions because he only stays in his chair throughout
the game. Consequently, the player feels okay with
Joker’s disability because they see no physical
evidence of it and because Joker treats his
disability with jokes and sarcastic tones. In this
way, Joker is able to control the normate’s feelings
about his disability.
<8> Although Joker is technically managing his

relationship with Shepard, more importantly, he is
also managing his relationship with the player
through Shepard. When Joker makes a joke, it is not
Shepard the avatar who laughs or reacts, it is the
player. Joker is not disabled in any way that makes
the player uncomfortable. As a disabled character,
Joker seeks to “neutralize the initial stigma of
disability so that relationships can be sustained and
deepened” (Thomson 13). By using assertiveness and
humor to brush off the seriousness of his disability,
he can become a character who is defined by more than
just his disability. Clearly, he wants to be thought
about as more than just a person with a disability;
he is insistent about his many commendations being
earned and that they had nothing to do with his
disability. Joker spends most of his time in the
first Mass Effect game sitting in his chair. He does
not draw attention to his disability. Joker is a very
popular character in the series, not to mention one
of the only characters that cannot be killed. He is
popular because he maneuvers the relationship between
the disabled body and the normate body very well. He
tells the player (and only if they ask) that he has
moderate to severe brittle bone disease and that he
requires leg braces and crutches to get around, but
the player never sees these signs of his disability.
He never stands up in the first game. The player
never has to dwell on his disability.
<9> Mass Effect is a game that defines the player as

normate. The player controls Shepard and identifies
with Shepard. When Shepard, the player’s avatar,
interacts with Joker, Joker is forced to defend
himself and put the normate at ease; this action
designates Joker as the Other who defines the
normate. In Extraordinary Bodies, Thomson discusses
the American fascination with the freak show, which
typically featured people who were considered
disabled in some way. She claims that one of the
reasons freak shows were popular is because the freak
“testifie[s] to the physical and ideological normalcy
of the spectator…[which] confirm[s] the spectator’s
status and identity” (Thomson 62). People tend to not
want to be considered abnormal so they like to be
assured of their normalcy. When the player sees a
character like Joker, they reinforce their normalcy.
That normalcy grants them a normate body which causes
them to identify with Shepard, the in-game normate
body and the person with power and authority. The
game reinforces this powerful identity.
Overcoming and Overachieving: Joker as Supercrip
<10> Joker is a supercrip character and consequently,

must overcome his disability. The supercrip
represents a disability type that contains “heroic
superachievers” and people who deserve respect
because “he or she proves capable of overcoming a
physical or mental limitation through extraordinary
feats” (Shapiro 16). The supercrip tends to be
someone who, according to the able bodied, has
“overcome their disability” in some way. This phrase
is hugely problematic to disability scholars as it
implies that disability is inherently deviant and is
something that needs to be overcome. Simi Linton, in
her essay “Reassigning Meaning,” discusses the
inherent issues with the phrase. She asserts that it
is used to describe “someone with a disability who
seems competent and successful in some way” (Linton
165), as if people should be surprised that someone
with a disability can be successful. In order to
interpret this statement as a compliment, “one must
accept the implication that the group is inferior and
that the individual is unlike others in that group”
(Linton 165). Although none of the game’s characters
actually say anything to Joker about how he has
overcome his disability, Joker implies that he has.
He received the name “Joker” from an instructor
because he was so serious and never smiled until he
graduated. Since Shepard’s interactions with Joker
are frequently humorous, it is assumed that Joker’s
seriousness in flight school was due to intense
focus. He was very much on focused on making
something of himself and proving that he could be the
best even with his “creaky” legs. If the phrase
“overcoming disability” actually implies that “what
is overcome is the social stigma of having a
disability” (Linton 165), then this is what Joker was
determined to do. When talking to Shepard, Joker says
that at flight school, “by the end of the year, [he]
was the best pilot in the Academy, even better than
the instructors and everybody knew it. They all got
their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky
little legs” (Mass Effect). Joker had to be the best
so he could overcome his disability. The game is not
self-critical of this idea. The crew is happy that
Joker worked hard because of his disability because
it means that they have the best pilot flying the
Normandy. Joker himself is pleased and proud to have
overcome his disability—even if he has to
continuously prove this to the Normandy’s command.
<11> Joker falls into the category of the supercrip

because his disease barely allows him to even walk
and yet he is the best pilot around. For example,
towards the end of the first Mass Effect game,
Shepard needs to get to an area with the Mako (an
infantry fighting vehicle). Since Shepard has been
exploring planets using the Mako the entire game, at
first this does not seem to be a problem. Joker
usually just brings the Normandy close to the ground
and drops the Mako down with Shepard inside it.
However, the Normandy’s crew insists that the Mako
requires at least a hundred meters of open ground in
order to be dropped successfully. At the end of the
game, a vital mission requires the Mako to be dropped
with only twenty meters of open ground. Even while
the crew says it is suicide to even attempt it, Joker
twice says “I can do it” in a very determined and
confident tone of voice. The he performs the drop
with seemingly little trouble. If overcoming
disability “demand[s] that you be plucky and
resolute, and not let the obstacles get in your way,”
(Linton 165) then Joker is the epitome of this idea.
Overcoming disability is about mental determination
defeating physical limitations. Not only does he
manage to successfully drop the Mako with less than a
hundred meters of open ground, he drops the Mako with
only twenty meters of open ground. This is more than
just talent as a pilot. The difference in the two
numbers, eighty meters, is absurd—this is the super
ability of the supercrip.
Still Life: The Normandy as Prosthesis
<12> The Normandy itself is the device that acts as

Joker’s prosthesis. He mentions crutches and leg
braces but the player never sees any evidence of
their existence. Although Joker cannot walk, he gets
around using the Normandy. The Normandy acts as
prosthesis in that “prosthetic interventions
increasingly extend human embodiment into hyper-
ability in addition to their original function of
‘making good’ the body that is disabled by lack”
(Eyre 109). In his dialogue with Shepard, Joker
emphasizes that his disability should not matter
because of his ability to fly the Normandy. In this
way, the Normandy is making up for the loss of
Joker’s motor ability. Tobin Siebers claims that the
able-bodied often view prostheses “as devices of
empowerment” and as signs of disability that are
“viewed exclusively as awakening new and magical
opportunities for ability” (Siebers 63). His
extraordinary flying abilities compensate in some way
for his inability to walk and also, act as a symbol
for his status as a supercrip. The Normandy is
necessary for demonstrating the skills Joker has,
despite of, or because of, his disability. Without
the Normandy, Joker would not be considered a very
valuable member of the crew as it would be difficult
if not impossible for him to maneuver around the
ship. As the pilot, the player easily forgets Joker’s
disability.
<13> The Normandy, as prosthesis, also allows Joker

to pass for able-bodied. As previously established,
the player sees no indication of Joker’s disability
and Joker does not volunteer the information except
when he believes Shepard knows his background. He
only brings up his disability to defend himself;
there is no other indication in the first Mass Effect
game that Joker has any kind of disability. Joker
does not wish people to know about his disability and
the Normandy masks his disability. As the pilot, he
is never expected to stand or walk around; he is in
charge of keeping the Normandy in motion and does not
have to be in motion himself. In “The Vulnerable
Articulate,” Marquard Smith discusses the prosthesis
as the device that makes a body able-bodied. He
asserts that “the success story of prosthesis…is in
fact determined by hiding the truth, making invisible
the body’s ‘disability’ and the very thing that makes
it ‘able-bodied’ again” (Smith 312). In these terms,
the Normandy makes a very successful prosthesis.
Despite the assumption that Shepard has been on the
Normandy’s crew for some time, Shepard is apparently
clueless about Joker’s disease. The invisibility of
Joker’s disability and prosthesis “allows the
prosthetic wearer to carry out a so-called normal
life safe in the knowledge that the rest of the world
is unaware of their disability” (Smith 312). Joker
can pass for able-bodied because the movement of the
Normandy itself compensates for his inability to move
his body. Disability scholars acknowledge that
although many people with disabilities try to pass as
“normal,” this has some negative effects. Thomson
states that if “disabled people pursue normalization
too much, they risk denying limitations and pain for
the comfort of others and may edge into the self-
betrayal associated with ‘passing’” (Thomson 13).
Joker must be as normalized as possible “for the
comfort of others,” meaning the normates. As Joker’s
prosthesis, the Normandy alleviates the discomfort of
the player by making him seem like any other crew
member. Joker cannot move his body but he can move
the entire crew between planets; despite Joker’s
words, this makes his physical limitations seem less
serious.
<13> It is perhaps this reliance on the Normandy that

makes Joker so unwilling to abandon ship at the
beginning of Mass Effect 2. The Normandy is attacked
by an alien race and sustains heavy casualties. She
is all but torn apart and missing huge sections of
her hull. All the survivors abandon ship except for
Joker and Shepard because Joker refuses to leave and
Shepard is determined to get him off the ship. In a
cut scene, Shepard tells him to leave and Joker
responds passionately, “No! I won’t abandon the
Normandy. I can still save her!” (Mass Effect 2).
Shepard responds that the Normandy is “dead.” Shepard
then hauls Joker to his feet and literally drags him
to an escape pod. Because of Joker’s hesitation in
leaving, Shepard is killed while Joker escapes. This
scene is the first time in the entire series that
Joker’s disability really manifests itself. It is no
coincidence that the moment the Normandy is
pronounced dead is the same moment that Joker
suddenly appears disabled. His prosthesis is
destroyed and with it goes his disability’s ability
to be invisible and his own attempts to look normal.
The loss of his prosthesis, the Normandy, leaves
Joker helpless. Siebers discusses how the empowerment
granted to prostheses causes people with disabilities
to be seen as cyborgs—a hybrid of man and machine;
consequently, the Normandy turns Joker into a
(figurative) cyborg. Although Joker does not
technically use a wheelchair, he always sits in a
chair in the cockpit and refers to it as his chair,
much the way a wheelchair user might. He controls the
ship, and in many ways functions as the ships voice,
interpreting the data the ship gives him and relaying
it to Commander Shepard. These elements come together
to make him seem cyborg-like. Because prostheses acts
to make disability into a site for super ability,
“the cyborg is always more than human—and never risks
to be seen as subhuman” (Siebers 63). For this
reason, Joker is willing to risk his life and
Shepard’s life to save his prosthesis and avoid the
problems inherent in disability. With the Normandy,
he is a cyborg and “the cyborg is not disabled”
(Siebers 63). As a disabled person, Joker must strive
to overcome all obstacles and not allow his
disability to show; however, he needs the Normandy to
do this. This is why he is willing to sacrifice his
own life.
The Normate Body in Science Fiction
<14> As is typical with science fiction, technology

plays a large role in the Mass Effect universe.
Furthermore, all major species in the galaxy seem
very dependent on this technology. The mass effect is
not just the name of the series; it is the basis of a
lot of the technology found in the universe. Most
importantly, it is the basis for the technology that
permits faster-than-light travel which is what allows
the galaxy to function as it does. Some human and
alien lifeforms also possess “biotic” abilities which
grant the power to manipulate mass effect fields.
Consequently, they can create barriers, lift people
into the air, or tear them apart. Almost all
characters carry omni-tools, high-tech computers that
when activated, form an orange hologram that engulfs
a person’s arm and hand when in use.
<15> All of this technology operates as prosthesis.

The universal availability of technology has made all
of these characters dependent on these advancements.
Without it, there would arguably be a type of
universal disability, in the same way that
contemporary individuals claim to have trouble
functioning without cell phones and computers [3].
Essentially, the Mass Effect franchise has created a
new normate body that necessitates prosthesis. The
science fiction normate has cyborg qualities that
rely on technology. If prostheses are universal and
come with, as Siebers says, “magical opportunities
for ability,” then the science fiction norm demands
extra-ability. In a way, this makes Joker into a more
complicated figure; he is disabled in a world where
everyone is “disabled.” Yet, he is still viewed as a
bodily other. He has superability but futuristic
technology has given all species special abilities.
Arguably, his body is actually superior to the
futuristic normate. Where the normate’s ability
derives from technological advancement, Joker’s
ability comes from his body even while it is
showcased by the Normandy and therefore, technology.
Joker does not let a computer fly the ship even when
it is an option. When the Mako must be dropped with
too little space, Joker performs the maneuver
successfully even while technology tells him it is
impossible. These feats are what turn him into a
stereotype of disability, but they are also what
place him outside it. In a way, he is less dependent
on technology and prosthesis than other characters.
At the same time, science tells him that his body is
inferior and that is what other characters, including
Shepard are reacting to within the game [4]. His
disability still defines him as a character.
Joker and the Cure of Mass Effect 2
<16> Two years after the destruction of the Normandy

Stealth Reconnaissance ship #1 (Normandy SR-1) and
Shepard’s death, the organization known as Cerberus
rebuilds Shepard’s body and brings Shepard back to
life. After waking up, Joker is the first familiar
face Shepard sees. Joker explains that the Alliance
grounded him after Shepard was killed, and therefore,
“took away the one thing that mattered to him” (Mass
Effect 2). Cerberus allows him to fly so he joined
them instead. Cerberus also built the Normandy SR-2
and Joker flies it all throughout Mass Effect 2. When
Shepard talks to Joker on board the Normandy SR-2,
Joker giddily says “Can you believe this, Commander?
It’s my baby, better than new! It fits me like a
glove!” (Mass Effect 2). He has his prosthesis back
and it feels like a part of him. The impression of
Joker as a cyborg is further strengthened in the
second game due to his interactions with the ship
computer, EDI (Enhanced Defense Intelligence). At
first, they are antagonistic towards one another and
argue constantly. Over the course of Mass Effect 2,
they bond, as demonstrated by the shift that occurs
in how they refer to each other. At the beginning of
the game, EDI calls him “Mr. Moreau” and Joker refers
to EDI as “it”; by the end of the game, EDI is
calling Joker “Jeff” and he is calling EDI “her.”
Joker and his prosthesis manage to bond fairly
seamlessly even when the Normandy has an actual
personality.
<17> The most unusual aspect of meeting up with Joker

again is that he is walking around. Based on the
comments he made in the original Mass Effect, (such
as, “I have to be real careful when I get up to take
a piss”) the player would not expect Joker to be up
and walking around so much. If he is walking around,
it seems like he should have a lot of difficulty.
However, Joker is only limping slightly; he also
walks at the exact same pace as Commander Shepard.
Additionally, near the end of the game, the alien
antagonists board the ship and begin carrying all of
the crew away. Joker, guided by the ships on board
computer, must go and manually allow EDI to take
control of the ship. Controlled by the player, Joker
executes a very fast-paced limp around the ship. The
difference between controlling Shepard and
controlling Joker appears to be in the way they walk,
rather than the speed. In order to get to the section
of the ship the mission requires, Joker must crawl
through the ducts and climb up several flights of
stairs in order to avoid the alien invaders. Joker
appears to perform these actions without suffering
any serious damage to his bones. However, one would
think that crawling down a ladder and inside narrow
metal ducts, on your knees, when you have brittle
bone disease would cause some problems. Furthermore,
when the computer sends the ship into hyperdrive,
Joker falls really hard, backwards onto metal grates.
He picks himself up with some groaning, but not the
serious damage that one would expect in someone who
has trouble getting up to use the bathroom. Still,
the game offers no explanation for why, in the first
Mass Effect, Joker claims to be disabled in a way
that prevents him from performing tasks the able-
bodied would deem simple, but in Mass Effect 2, can
suddenly move in ways that some able-bodied
individuals could find challenging. His disability
seems magically cured and his difficulties alleviated
as soon as the game developers need him to take
action.
Joker as the Hero Figure
<18> This curing happens when Joker is given an

increased role in the series. In the first game, his
role was rather marginal—he had very little unique
dialogue. In the second game, he is one of the few
characters from the first game to rejoin Shepard and
the Normandy. More importantly, besides Commander
Shepard, he is the only other playable character in
the two games. Shepard goes off on a mission, leaving
Joker and the crew alone on the Normandy. When the
enemy aliens attack, it is up to Joker to save the
ship. It is at this point that the player takes over
Joker and guides him down ladders and through ducts.
Because of this, Joker leaves behind the role of
marginal supporting character and takes on, at least
in part, the identity of hero. This shift is further
defined at the end of the game. Mass Effect 2 has
multiple endings that depend on the choices the
player makes. In one of those endings, Joker will
meet Shepard at the door to the Normandy, wielding a
heavy weapon that he uses to kill the many hostile
aliens that are pursuing Shepard. Wielding a gun is
an exploit befitting the action hero of an action RPG
—not the action of a disabled pilot who spent the
entirety of the first game in a chair. Even if
Shepard survives, this scene demonstrates the shift
that occurred with Joker between the first and second
games.
<19> In another possible ending, Shepard dies

(again). Despite Joker’s efforts at hauling Shepard
aboard the ship, Shepard will yell last minute
instructions to Joker about fulfilling the mission
before falling to his death. In this sense, Shepard
is passing on the heroic role to Joker. Without
Shepard around, it is up to Joker to fulfill the win
condition of the game: informing the world that the
Reapers, a deadly race of sentient machines, are
coming to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. So
it is Joker who takes Shepard’s place in all the cut
scenes that Shepard would have been in if Shepard had
lived. The player selects Joker’s end dialogue and
the game ends with an image of Joker gazing up at the
stars from the Normandy.
<20> Joker has to become more able-bodied in order to
become a heroic figure. According to Rosemarie
Garland Thomson, disabled characters “usually remain
on the margins of fiction…[and] main characters
almost never have physical disabilities” (Thomson 9).
In order to take on the role of a main character in
Mass Effect 2, Joker’s disability needs to become
less noticeable. Otherwise, he would be unable to
function as game developers need him to. In addition,
if the player had to control a character who more
noticeably limped, moved slowly, and/or was obviously
in pain as a result of his disease, the game would
have been drawing attention to a feature of Joker
that would potentially make the player uncomfortable
and cause them to get less enjoyment from the game.
<21> Because no explanation is ever offered for

Joker’s miraculous improvement, the player must make
assumptions about what might have made Joker better.
Since Joker is a supercrip character, perhaps his
transformation foes not seem improbable or unusual.
Supercrips have such extraordinary ability, so why
should Joker not successfully manage to crawl around
on his knees without injury? Deprived of any kind of
medical explanation or justification for the
alteration in his disability, it is assumed that he
must have overcome his disability mentally. This idea
is part of the issues surrounding the ideology of
ability. Siebers defines the ideology of ability “at
its simplest [as] the preference for able-bodiedness”
(Siebers 8). It is the ideology of ability that
encourages the idea of the supercrip because the
supercrip makes the able-bodied feel better about
disability. The concept of the supercrip and other
ableist ideas “represent[] impairment as the product
of mental weakness” and claims that “physical
disability may be cured by acts of will” (Siebers
78). For example, ableist ideology thinks that
supercrips maintain a “can do” attitude and that is
the reason for their remarkable feats; the power of
positive thinking can help you overcome your
disability. By not addressing Joker’s disability, the
game leaves the player to decide that Joker is
ignoring or powering through his physical pain and
suffering. This makes the normate, as the player,
feels better about disability. The disabled body is
in no way making them uncomfortable or infringing on
their peace of mind. Consequently, the game
encourages the problematic and prolific idea that
physical disability can be cured mentally if only
people with disabilities would try harder. It also
confirms Thomson’s idea that main characters with
disabilities appear rarely. In order to be a main
character, Joker has to normalize himself more and
appear more able-bodied then he was before.
Joker’s Disability as a Plot Device
<22> When Shepard dies at the beginning of Mass

Effect 2, Cerberus takes the body to one of their
facilities. They then spend two years putting the
body back together and bringing Shepard back to life,
memories intact and everything. Yet, despite the
ability to bring people back from the dead in the
Mass Effect universe, apparently there is no cure for
Vrolik’s syndrome and not much in the way of
treatment of therapy. This seems to be somewhat
ridiculous and makes very little sense. Yes, the Mass
Effect universe is a rather fantastical work of
fiction; however, it still must abide by its own
logic and rules. If the technology exists to rebuild
a body, then there should be better therapy for
brittle bone disease. Therefore, it seems as if the
writers for Mass Effect are depending on Joker and
his disability as a narrative plot device and method
of characterization. In Narrative Prosthesis:
Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse David T.
Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder discuss the ways in
which narrative seems to lean on disability, judging
from the amount of literature that contains disabled
figures of some kind. When writers try to make a
“different character, they often rely upon anomalous
identities such as disability. This tendency to use
“disability as a device of narrative characterization
demonstrates the importance of disability to
storytelling itself” because storytelling often
“borrows the potency of the lure of difference that a
socially stigmatized condition provides” (Mitchell
and Snyder 55). Joker is strongly characterized by
his disability in the first game; his disability is
almost the only thing Shepard can question him about.
<23> It is not that disability must be somehow vital

to the plot in order to be used appropriately.
Because Joker’s disability does not make sense within
the context of the game world, it seems like the
writers are trying to exploit disability while
simultaneously encouraging stereotypes that the
disability movement struggles against. Bioware’s
writers recognize that “disability marks a character
as ‘unlike’ the rest of a fiction’s cast, and once
singled out, the character becomes a case of special
interest who retains originality” (Mitchell and
Snyder 55). People remember Joker because his
disability makes him unusual, especially in a video
game which usually seem to feature the able-bodied.
But by marking him as especially interesting, Bioware
turns Joker into a problematic stereotype that is all
about privileging ability. They also continuously
revise Joker’s disability in order to accommodate the
feelings of the normate, as evidenced by his
unexplained improvement in ability between the two
games. Joker is a unique character when it is
convenient for him to be so.
<24> Bioware turned Joker into a stereotype of a

supercrip because that is what the audience enjoys.
People like hearing about supercrips. In the lived
history of the world, “these ‘supercrips’ remain
among our most glorified disabled role models,
lavishly lauded in the press and on television”
(Shapiro 16). Able-bodied people are most likely to
want to hear about the inspirationally disadvantaged.
That is what the Mass Effect games give the player
through the character of Joker. Some would think that
this is a positive stereotype—it shows that people
with disabilities are capable of so much. Joker is
disabled, but he is an unbelievably awesome pilot.
However, disability scholars such as Joseph Shapiro
argue that:
While prodigious achievement is
praiseworthy in anyone, disabled or not, it
does not reflect the day-to-day reality of
most disabled people, who struggle
constantly with smaller challenges, such as
finding a bus with a wheelchair lift to go
downtown or fighting beliefs that people
with disabilities cannot work, be educated,
or enjoy life as well as anyone else.
(Shapiro 17)
When stereotypes such as that of the supercrip or the

pitiable disabled poster child (Tiny Tim figure) are
popularized, they damage the momentum that the
disability movement is trying to gain. The disability
rights movement is about trying to gain equality with
everyday events and happenings. This goal is much
harder to reach if people are busy applauding the
unique individuals with disabilities who get along in
life just fine without bothering anyone or requiring
any assistance. Over time, people begin to think that
if that one person managed to live their life
extraordinarily despite a disability, then all people
with disabilities should be equally capable.
Unfortunately, this is not very realistic and the
supercrip stereotype that Joker embodies only
perpetuates this problematic idea. His character
becomes more complicated when one considers the ways
in which science fiction technology perpetuates
“universal disability,” but so much of Joker’s
character centers around his disabled body that the
unsettling of the stereotype is dwarfed by the
problematic aspects of the representation of
disability.
<25> The public gets their stereotypes from media so

even representations of disability in video games
matter. Despite the changes the disability movement
has made, “the poster child and ‘supercrip’ images
remain the most significant obstacle to normal
interaction between nondisabled and disabled people”
(Shapiro 18). The player, as normate, gets along fine
in their interactions with Joker but that is because
the supercrip stereotypes is designed to be perfectly
comfortable to the able-bodied individual.
Unfortunately, Joker’s experiences do not tend to
align with the lived experience of people with
disabilities. Consequently, normate players still
know very little about how to react to people who
have real disabilities.
<26> Despite his rather marginal role in the first

Mass Effect game, Joker makes an impact on the
player. His role as a disabled character serves to
define Commander Shepard as a normate body—someone
with power and authority. As the hero figure of the
game, these are the qualities that the player wants
to see Shepard. Joker interacts with the player
through Shepard; by masking the seriousness of his
disability through his humorous treatment of it, he
makes it apparent that the game is designed for an
able-bodied player who may feel discomfort in the
presence of someone with a disability. His jokes are
really for the benefit of the player which makes the
player into a normate—a figure of power that is
defined by Joker and his disability.
<27> In terms of the disability movement, popular

culture matters. The cultural representations of
disability have an impact on people. Because Mass
Effect is such a popular game, Bioware should be wary
of the harmful stereotypes they may be perpetuating.
By portraying Joker as a “supercrip,” Bioware is
supporting the idea that people with disabilities are
somehow inferior; their condition in life is
something to be overcome. Joker uses the Normandy to
overcome his disability and also to normalize
himself. Disability is something to be hidden lest
you be judged for it. Even more damaging, Mass Effect
implies that only the able-bodied can be heroic
figures. Between the first Mass Effect game and the
second, Joker’s disability seems to lessen. While in
the first game, walking would have been a major
challenge for Joker, in the second game he is barely
limping. Because this transition happens in time for
Joker to take a bigger role in the games, the game
perpetuates the idea that disabled characters cannot
be action heroes or protagonists in a video game.
Confusingly, Joker’s shift towards able-bodiedness is
never brought up in-game, leaving the player to
assume that Joker has mentally cured himself. The
treatment of Joker in these games seems to favor an
able-bodied player. The player does not have to grow
annoyed with Joker’s slower pace when playing as him
because it has all but disappeared; Joker never
demonstrates disability in a way that would earn him
uncomfortable pity; Joker’s piloting skills allow him
to “overcome” his disability so that the normate can
give him respect. Overall, the representation of
Joker perpetuates some problematic ideas about
disability that need to be taken apart and rethought.
Works Cited
Bioware. Mass Effect. Redwood City, CA: Electronic

Arts, 2007. Electronic.
Bioware. Mass Effect 2. Redwood City, CA: Electronic

Arts, 2010. Electronic.
Eyre, Pauline. “Comment from the Field: Transforming

Bodies: Prosthetics Seminar. Journal of
Literary and Cultural Disability Studies 5.1
(2011): 109-112. Web.
Linton, Simi. “Reassigning Meaning.” The Disability

Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. New York:
Routledge, 2006. 161-172. Print.
Mitchell, David T. and Sharon L. Snyder. Narrative

Prosthesis. Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press, 2000. Print.
Shapiro, Joseph. No Pity: People with Disabilities

Forging a New Civil Rights Movement. New York:
Times Books, 1993. Print.
Siebers, Tobin. Disability Theory. Ann Arbor: The

University of Michigan Press, 2008. Print.
Smith, Marquard. “The Vulnerable Articulate.” The
Disability Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J.
Davis. New York: Routledge, 2006. 309-319.
Print.
Thomson, Rosemarie Garland. Extraordinary Bodies:

Figuring Physical Disability in American
Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1997. Print.
Wendell, Susan. The Rejected Body: Feminist

Philosophical Reflections on Disability. New
York: Routledge, 1996. Print.
Notes
[1] Because disability studies frequently concerns

itself with the ways in which cultural
representations of disability both derive from and
shape society, much of this essay discusses Mass
Effect in realist terms. The representation of Joker
reflects many of the issues faced by the disabled
community and this essay seeks to expose the ways in
which we understand disability in a largely able-
bodied culture.
[2] There are a number of powerful intertextual

references that could be evoked here. The name,
Joker, brings up comparisons to the character from
the Batman franchise. Similarly, Joker has brittle
bone disease like the villain in Unbreakable.
However, my analysis concentrates on humor and limits
itself to the differing representations of disability
and able-bodiedness within the Mass Effect franchise.
[3] This is not to belittle the very real struggle

people with disabilities face in reality but to argue
that when “cyborg” beings become the normate, then to
be able-bodied by modern standards is to be disabled
by futuristic, science fiction standards. If
prosthetic devices imply a bodily lack, then
universal use of prosthetics implies a mindset in
which all bodies lack.
[4] This idea also subscribes to the “social model of

disability” which claims that disability is located
in the environment, outside the body and that society
must stop portraying disability as deficiency.
According to this model, Joker is only disabled
because the medical community tells him he is
disabled.
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Mass Effect's, Supercrip, and The Normate Body - Amanda Joyal

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30/05/2020 Reconstruction 12.

2 (2012): Playing for Keeps: Games and Cultural Resistance

Keywords: Disability, video games, Mass Effect

<1> In the science fiction future, it seems almost

Positions of Authority: Shepard and the Player as

<3> The relationship between Shepard and Joker mimics

<4> When the player first has the opportunity to quiz

<5> Their dialogue in this scene reflects this

<6> Within the context of the game, the relationship

<7> Joker must compensate for his disability in his

<8> Although Joker is technically managing his

<9> Mass Effect is a game that defines the player as

Overcoming and Overachieving: Joker as Supercrip

<10> Joker is a supercrip character and consequently,

<11> Joker falls into the category of the supercrip

Still Life: The Normandy as Prosthesis

<12> The Normandy itself is the device that acts as

<13> The Normandy, as prosthesis, also allows Joker

<13> It is perhaps this reliance on the Normandy that

The Normate Body in Science Fiction

<14> As is typical with science fiction, technology

<15> All of this technology operates as prosthesis.

Joker and the Cure of Mass Effect 2

<16> Two years after the destruction of the Normandy

<17> The most unusual aspect of meeting up with Joker

Joker as the Hero Figure

<18> This curing happens when Joker is given an

<19> In another possible ending, Shepard dies

<21> Because no explanation is ever offered for

Joker’s Disability as a Plot Device

<22> When Shepard dies at the beginning of Mass

<23> It is not that disability must be somehow vital

<24> Bioware turned Joker into a stereotype of a

When stereotypes such as that of the supercrip or the

<25> The public gets their stereotypes from media so

<26> Despite his rather marginal role in the first

<27> In terms of the disability movement, popular

Bioware. Mass Effect. Redwood City, CA: Electronic

Bioware. Mass Effect 2. Redwood City, CA: Electronic

Eyre, Pauline. “Comment from the Field: Transforming

Linton, Simi. “Reassigning Meaning.” The Disability

Mitchell, David T. and Sharon L. Snyder. Narrative

Shapiro, Joseph. No Pity: People with Disabilities

Siebers, Tobin. Disability Theory. Ann Arbor: The

Thomson, Rosemarie Garland. Extraordinary Bodies:

Wendell, Susan. The Rejected Body: Feminist

[1] Because disability studies frequently concerns

[2] There are a number of powerful intertextual

[3] This is not to belittle the very real struggle

[4] This idea also subscribes to the “social model of

ISSN: 1547-4348. All material contained within this site is copyrighted by

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